In the aftermath of the most serious bear attack in Florida history, a top state wildlife officer admitted Wednesday that "we could've done better."

That assessment from Thomas Eason of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came amid community outrage over the killing of two bears that had been trapped days after Susan Chalfant, 54, was mauled Dec. 2 in Seminole County's Wingfield North subdivision.

On Tuesday night, however, wildlife officers learned through DNA testing that an adult female bear with cubs was responsible for the attack — not the two bears they already had killed. The bear that mauled Chalfant was also trapped and will not be euthanized.

"There are things we could've done better, but we were reacting to a tragic situation," said Eason, FWC's director of its Division of Habitat and Species Conservation. "We are dedicated to being better."

State wildlife policy dictates that if a bear threatens human life, the bear will lose.

Together with their bosses in Tallahassee, wildlife officers and biologists decided to kill the first two bears without conclusive evidence that they had attacked Chalfant — mainly because they matched a vague description of the attacking animal.

On the day of the attack, Eason said, there was no guarantee that DNA collected from Chalfant's injuries would yield any results because it was the first time genetic testing had been done in Florida after a bear confrontation.

So, in an abundance of caution, he said, they euthanized the bears.

The genetic results Tuesday confirmed the attacker was the female bear with cubs. They were brought to Busch Gardens temporarily. The cubs will be set free as soon as they're old enough, and the mother will remain in captivity.

Wildlife officers have euthanized bears for far less serious encounters with humans that were nevertheless alarming, Eason said. A bear was put down earlier this year in the same Longwood-area community.

In many cases, he said they could not be 100 percent certain they eliminated the right bear. Since Jan. 1, 2012, about 40 bears have been killed in Central Florida — half of which had been injured in vehicle accidents.

The bears were "put down because they need to make sure there was not a bear out there that could injure someone," Eason said. "It took two weeks, but we got clarity."

Community outrage

The choice to kill the two bears after the Chalfant attack infuriated some local residents, who have flooded social media and the agency with complaints.

"I understand [FWC] was responding, but it wouldn't have been nice if they had waited," said Inga Bateman, who had two recent encounters with bears in her Sweetwater Oaks neighborhood. "I think they were blindsided by it because we had never had that happen before."

Securing and moving wild bears to holding facilities is risky. There are few open slots, but the state wildlife agency did not have a process in place at the time of the incident to place captured bears, Eason said.

"These are wild animals," he said. "There's not the ability to house every bear captured and wait."

The first bear that officers trapped was too small to have injured Chalfant and was taken to a Crystal River wildlife center. But the next two were euthanized. Busch Gardens and the Care Foundation in Apopka both took in the captured bear and her cubs after reaching out to the Florida wildlife agency.

"I didn't know the full situation, but I knew they had euthanized two bears, and I figured if I could be of any help at all, I would offer our place," said Care Foundation founder Christin Anne Burford.

Mitchel Kalmanson, who owns and manages the private exotic-animal facility in Sorrento where the bears were later housed, said the state lacked a detailed plan to deal with a large bear while investigating whether the animal had attacked a person.

"It sort of hit them by surprise," he said.

As recently as a year ago, however, the writers of the state's bear-management plan warned that a serious attack in an urban area would occur because of a rebounding bear population that would challenge the limits of human tolerance and the ability of wildlife officers to sort it all out.

Changes in protocol

The bear attack was not just "a warning call, but the call" to the entire community — residents, businesses, waste management, homeowners associations and law enforcement — to be more responsible, said Laurie Macdonald, director of Florida Wildlife Defenders.

"[FWC] acted fast and made a rapid response to a public-safety issue, and the bear is the one that suffers for it," said Macdonald, who works closely with FWC. "We understand that, but we also see that this incident shows that a different protocol needs to be used."

Wildlife Defenders has been in contact with the agency since news broke of the attack.

Manley Fuller of the Florida Wildlife Federation said FWC's approach was logical, but the introduction of DNA evidence brings in another dimension that should be included in its nuisance-bear protocols.

"It's a phenomenon happening all over the country, and sometimes these situations are a little bit messy," Fuller said of the growing number of human-bear confrontations. "I hope it was a learning experience."

The ZIP code where the attack occurred has yielded the highest number of complaints in the state, Sentinel research found. The abundance of easy food sources found in residential areas on the edge of the Wekiva River basin has altered bears natural behavior, experts say.

Six months before Chalfant was mauled, a woman in her neighborhood was warned about feeding bears.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said environmental advocate Keith Schue. "Euthanizations used to be the action of last resort, but it's becoming the action of first resort."

FWC officials say the problem is distressing, but they are dedicating more resources and hiring contractors to deal with it.

"We have throughout the state dozens of bears coming in contact with people that are difficult to manage," Eason said. "We will be reviewing and making changes as appropriate. We are listening and open to feedback."